Kidney transplant for Tk 1.6 lakh at BSMMU

512 kidney transplants performed successfully

Tarik Hasan Shahriar
7 December, 2017 12:00 AM

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) is conducting a kidney transplant at a cost of Tk 1.6 lakh which is very low in comparison with that of in India, Thailand and Singapore.

Many kidney patients of the country are now having kidney transplantation at BSMMU at a lower cost.

Al Amin, a kidney patient, had long been suffering from chronic kidney complications. Both of his kidneys were damaged.

Local doctors advised him to have kidney transplant surgery.

Various medical examinations were performed on him when he went to a hospital in India. Doctors told Al Amin that he will have to deposit Tk 8 lakh in advance for the operation. But Al Amin decided to come back to the country, as it is quite impossible for him to afford such an expensive treatment. He then came to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University.

Al Amin’s wife decided to donate a kidney for her husband. Urologists of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University carried out the surgery for him.

Senior urologist of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Dr Mohammad Habibur Rahman said that the kidney transplant was conducted on Al Amin at a cost of Tk 1 lakh 80 thousand. Now his kidney is functioning well and Al Amin is very delighted to have kidney transplantation at a lower rate at the hospital.

It takes at least Tk 8-10 lakh abroad which is impossible for the middle class, lower middle class and impoverished people, he said, adding that they perform surgery on a kidney patient every week.

On the other hand, a kidney patient is needed to expend around Tk 2 lakh altogether for the surgery at BSMMU.

He laid stress on increasing budgetary allocation, which will help poor kidney patients to undergo surgery. “Now, we can provide Tk 10,000 from the social welfare ministry and Tk 10,000 from prime minister’s fund for needy kidney patients. But it is not enough,” he said, adding that the hospital has already set an example by performing kidney transplant surgery at a lower cost.